1. The Magnetic Fields | I Don’t Believe In The SunThe Magnetic Fields album 69 Love SongsVol. 1 is one of my favorite albums ever. I just think it’s brilliant. I remember the first time I heard the album I was 20 years old and riding in the back of a friend’s car at night on the way home from band practice, and we got a flat tire on the interstate. My friend Jess put on The Magnetic Fields and we were listening to the album while someone was changing the tire. I remember thinking that every song was genius, catchy, hilarious and just plain amazing. I’ve always really identified with I Don’t Believe In The Sun on a personal level. Whenever I hear it, I think of the scene in Lost In Translation where Bill Murray is singing karaoke to an Elvis Costello song. Then I re-imagine that scene, but it’s me in a movie and I’m singing this song. It’s like a really old, sad version of me.

2. Yo La Tengo | Today Is The Day
This is one of the first Yo La Tengo songs I heard and fell in love with the band. I think a friend had posted the song Autumn Sweater on MySpace and I thought it was good and that they were a band that I really needed to get into because they were obviously what cool people were listening to. So, I started downloading as many Yo La Tengo songs as I could via LimeWire or some other terrible, illegal site (I was a poor College student/probably awful human being at the time). I have loved this song ever since I heard it. To me, the fast version just doesn’t compare to the slower version from Summer Sun. There is something in the guitar lead and in Georgia’s voice that just fills me with this really heavy, sad feeling, but I totally understand it. Once someone said, Kim likes Sad Music. I think they were right.

3. Beach House | You Came To MeOne of my friend’s made me a mix CD when I lived in Seattle in 2009 and she put the single version of Used To Be by Beach House on it. It was instantly my favorite song in the World and I wanted to hear everything I could by the band. I thought Victoria Legrand was a male the first time I heard her voice. I downloaded Devotion and couldn’t stop listening. I was obsessed with that album for months. I remember thinking for the first time ever that someone had finally come up with the sound that I had always felt inside. I loved drum machines, keyboards and haunting vocals and someone had finally combined them. I was taking design classes in Seattle and think I listened to this album over and over while working on final projects one afternoon until like 2 am the next morning. This song always reminds me of my initial fascination upon discovering the band.

4. The Aislers Set | Emotional Levy
An ex gave me his How I Learned To Write Backwards CD because he bought it thinking it would be cool and he handed to me saying, I think you’ll like this more than I do. He was right, but I remember being confused and wondering if they were a Christian band at first (because of the first line about Jesus in Catherine says). I was hesitant to admit how impressed I was by them because I was 21 and still in my snotty this band is cool because I discovered them first phase. I remember saying that I liked the CD, but that I thought the singer was a little pretentious. She was using BIG words and writing such poetic lines. I was intimidated. Emotional Levy was and still is my favorite song on this album. Every time I hear it I am still amazed at how unique the song structure is.

5. The Amps | Bragging Party
I love Kim Deal. I love this song. I grew up listening to Last Splash. In High School my friend Cera got a copy of The Amps CD and wouldn’t let me borrow it. She told me it was because the album was too depressing. When I went to College I finally got my own copy of the album and I remember thinking it wasn’t really a sad album at all. I love how she echoes the ooohs/aaahs on the chorus of this song. I could listen to it over and over.

7. Camera Obscura | Pen And Notebook
When I first heard Camera Obscura I wanted to write songs just like them, especially Pen And Notebook. In my mind, I was like Ummm, I play guitar and I’m an English student, so I should be writing songs with titles like this!... I thought the lyrics were so simple and her vocals were so soft and pretty. I tried writing songs like this, but I was still in College and had just had my daughter. I played Music by myself at home when she was napping and was trying to work up the courage to start playing Music with other people again. I used to play this song over and over and I put in on a set list of songs for an imaginary show I was practicing for.8. Elliott Smith | Tomorrow Tomorrow
I listened to a lot of Girl Punk bands and Metal bands in High School. The more obscure and quirky the band, the better. My older sister went from listening to Bikini Kill to Elliott Smith and I was not cool with it. I thought he sucked. I made fun of Needle In The Hay. I especially hated XO. But then she graduated High School and moved away. When I went to College and started working at a Music store I took home a copy of Roman Candle. I missed my sister and listening to him was like hanging out with her again. Then I brought home a copy of XO. I realized that she was right all along: he was a genius. This is one of my favorite songs of his because the guitar parts and vocal parts are all so beautiful. I love the lyrics to this song and I love singing it.

9. Lou Reed | Andy’s Chest
I babysat for a military couple that was friends with my dad when I was growing up. I thought they were kind of square. They were grown ups and I was a cool, punk teenager. I was looking for a movie to watch and I found a Lou Reed - Transformer CD. I don’t know if I was intrigued by the album cover or name, but something made me listen to the CD. I loved it right away. I asked to borrow it so I could make a copy, and the woman I babysat for lit up. She became a different person when she started telling me to tell her husband how amazing Satellite Of Love is. Andy’s Chest is still my favorite song on the album. I remember thinking my sister was going to think I was crazy for loving a song that had such weird lyrics.

10. My Bloody Valentine | Only Shallow
There’s something about starting Loveless and every time you hear Only Shallow it feels the same (awesome). I love singing this song and wish I could sound like Bilinda Butcher. After all of these years, I don’t even know what the lyrics are and I’m OK with that.

SIDE B | by Jarod Weldin

1. Operation Ivy | KnowledgeOperation Ivy is a band that solidified my love of Punk Rock early on. When I was in Middle School I found the self-titled cassette at a chain record store in the mall where I grew up. While it was probably readily available at the time, it felt like I had won the lottery. My friends and I listened to that tape non-stop for years, driving all over upstate New York looking for adventure and places to skateboard.

2. John Lennon | Oh Yoko!
I listened to this song so much when I first bought Imagine. I still listen to it quite often, it’s perfect.3. New Order | The VillageThe drumming is really fun. I love everything about this song. It’s over four minutes long and always feels like half of that. I can listen to this one over and over.

4. Frank Sinatra | Here Goes
Whenever I do karaoke I usually lean towards Sinatra. I always check for this song, it’s never on the list and I end up doing something else. Just a great, fun song.

5. Hüsker Dü | It’s Not Funny Anymore
This song is a perfect combination of the Hardcore leanings from their early records and the more melodic aspects that would go into their later records.

6. Yo La Tengo | Well You Better
I could have chosen any of a number of Yo La Tengo songs, depending on the day. This is a more recent one, from their album Fade. I love that it’s so upbeat and also sounds so relaxed, that’s definitely something we try to do with our songs. The vocal and keyboard melodies are really great. Georgia is putting on a clinic with the hi-hat lifts and the ghost notes on the snare.

7. Faces | Ooh La LaIt feels like I’ve always known this song, it’s one I remember hearing a lot growing up. Even just the first few guitar strums bring a feeling of nostalgia. It’s just a great, classic song.8. Descendents | Suburban Home
I’ve been a huge Descendents fan for half of my life at this point and I just like them more and more as time goes by. To me, this is a perfect Punk Rock song.

9. The Kinks | Picture Book
I remember the first time I heard this song. My friend Ian was driving the two of us around and he had a tape with …Village Green… on one side and the complete Minor Threat discography on the other side. I thought that was great. It was a long time ago, I guess it’s possible that it was two separate tapes, but I’m going to choose to remember it this way. I had a few of the later Kinks records at the time, but this is the one that really got me into them. I went to the record store the next day and bought it.

10. Black Flag | Nervous BreakdownSometimes when we’re driving, Kim will put this on and sing it like a crazy person and I fall in love with her all over again.